Back to Room 308 - The Wee Hours, Monday Night

[the_merriest]

Hey, 308. She was home again.

Mel wasn't dead. Rikku was very glad Mel wasn't dead, since Mel being dead would be bad.

Her room was empty. That was because Hermione left. And her arm was naked, because she'd put her Godhand back in the weapons locker. Should've cleaned it. Didn't.

Petey was twining around her feet. Okay. Hi, Petey.

Rikku picked up her phone and dialed Reno's number. No answer. She was pretty sure she left a message. Good.

Shower. She was gonna shower. She needed one.

(for one. follows this.)

Comments

[raspberryturk]

Reno might not have received Rikku's message right away, but the moment he had gotten it- well.

He wasn't called 'The Fastest Turk' for nothing.

But when he had gotten there? And knocked? And knocked some more?

Well, it was apparent that nobody was home. She had said that she needed to shower.

So he was going to just invite himself in. Because running all the way from Greece and then up the stairs on top of that meant that he was beat enough to not want to tackle one more flight of steps. Besides, lockpicking was easy.

"Yo, Petey. Mind if I make myself at home? Figured you wouldn't. You're a good stupid cat, zoto."

[the_merriest]

Petey mrowled happily at Reno. Hey! Hey, Reno! It was looooooonely here. The nice girl and the cat he liked to bother were gone.

Ooooooooh, shoelaces.

[raspberryturk]

"I see you missed me," Reno mused, making his way toward the bed. He could kind of scoot the cat in that general direction as he went, and then take a seat on the edge to catch his breath. Catching his breath? Very important.

As was poking the cat with his toe.

[the_merriest]

Petey flopped onto his back, so he could viciously attack Reno's toe and possibly get belly-rubs. Didn't Reno want to give him belly rubs?

Rikku opened the door and stopped short, still slightly wet in her pajamas and hair wrapped in a towel. "Oh. Hi."

Reno. She had no idea if she had expected to see him or not. Right, she'd called.

She shut the door behind her and set her shower caddy down. "We saved the world," she said, over in Reno's general direction. "I think."

[raspberryturk]

Saving the world sucked. Reno knew. Stupid world had to be saved every two years whether it needed it or not, where he was from.

Or something like that.

He was on his feet and walking over to her with his arms open before he could even sort that thought out. Maybe he'd mull it over some other time.

"You okay, Rikku?"

[the_merriest]

"'m fine," she said, standing up again and -- oh. Arms. Arms were so very nice for this sort of thing and she was going to lean into them. Like so. Hi there.

"Mel took off. Save the world, gotta do this myself. So we caught up with her. Lots of demons and lurks to slice up, that part was cool, then the gateway closing and poof, Mel was gone. Then we were back behind the waffle house again but she called and said she's not dead. Just in her own timeline again. Uh. So ... it's all okay. Right?"

As if he'd followed that. She wasn't sure she had.

[raspberryturk]

Reno had followed "save the world," "demons," "Mel was gone," and "not dead."

Those seemed like the important bits, there.

"Savin' the world always sucks," he muttered, burying his face in her hair. She should come with him. Over to the bed. He was a master of the cuddle thing, by now. Taught by the best, and all.

[the_merriest]

"It does," she frowned, letting him pull her along. Bed. Bed was very nice indeed. "Seems stupid to ... be all ... weird now if she's okay and we're all okay. It was kinda ... not till she called and said she wasn't dead that it really ... hit me that she kinda was. Had been. Would've been." She exhaled in a huff. "Why can't I ever talk right?"

[raspberryturk]

"You're makin' perfect sense," Reno mumbled, taking a seat on the edge of the bed and scooting back toward the wall. "For all it's worth, I'm glad she's alive, zoto. But even the thinkin' that she might not be, that's rough. You need anything?"

He'd get it, if she said what she needed. He'd tear the island apart and then head to the mainland and tear apart Greece. After the snuggling.

[the_merriest]

"This," she said, stretching out. "I think that's why I called. I called, right? I'm kinda ... not all here, right now. I meant to call you and I think I did and my Godhand's gonna be all rusty and gooey but I couldn't clean it yet. Kinda just needed to shower the goo off and ... snuggle. I didn't ... you weren't busy, were you?"

That hadn't occurred to her until just now, either. That she might have pulled him away from something. Dammit.

She smiled weakly at the vicious deadly snuggle-attacker who was claiming a spot on the bed for himself. As Peteys are wont to do.

[raspberryturk]

"Me? I'm never busy. You can call anytime, and as soon as I get the message, I'm there, yo. Sometimes sooner. I'm pretty fast."

He was faster, actually, when he got messages like that one.

"If this is what you need, Rikku, I got it in spades, zoto."

[the_merriest]

She picked up one of his hands and placed it against her face. "I think you're what I need," she said gently, not even worried about how it sounded. "Can you ... stay? Tonight? Hermione left, so she won't mind."

In case Reno hadn't noticed that one half of the room was entirely bare. As if she hadn't mentioned her roommate leaving or anything. Just FYI, here.

[raspberryturk]

Reno nodded and gently ran his thumb over her lips.

"Of course I can, Rikku. Can stay as long as you need me to."

He wasn't terribly worried about the roomie being here or there. If Hermione wasn't gone, he'd just gather Rikku in his arms and carry her up to his own room, problem solved.

"I'm here, zoto."

[the_merriest]

"Being stupid," she mumbled, pausing long enough to kiss his thumb. "Mel's okay. Just kinda ... feel all weird. World-savey blues."

That was the whole point of the club, wasn't it? That the people who went and saved the world usually weren't at the afterparty. They were drinking and grieving and burying their friends.

[raspberryturk]

"Savin' the world's tiring work." Reno nodded and leaned back, pulling her along with him. Quality snuggle time went very nicely with falling over and sprawling out and remembering how to breathe, after all.

"Ain't stupid. Feelin' this way? Ain't never stupid."

[the_merriest]

Reno was perfect for sprawling on. She followed bonelessly, curling in against him.

"Feels stupid. Hitting the down from it. I got to kill stuff. That part rocked."

There was a slight pause after that, followed by a very out of place abrupt giggle, and Rikku sitting up and dragging a mrowling kitty back down with her.

"Petey," she announced, dangling him over her face. "No eating my toes."

[raspberryturk]

Reno grinned up at the cat, and then curled back against Rikku with a chuckle.

"Aw, be easy on him. I happen to know you got very tasty toes."

[the_merriest]

"Have you ever been woken up because someone thinks your nose is tasty?" Rikku giggled. "I think maybe there's something terribly wrong with Petey, yoto."

Petey mrowled happily and wriggled. There was! He was dumb.

[raspberryturk]

"He's a real special cat," Reno decided. And if there was extra emphasis on 'special,' that was totally coincidence. Really. "Not too bright. But he's a good cat anyhow, yo."

[the_merriest]

"He is," she smiled, letting Petey's feet dangle enough so that he could get his bearings and scamper out of her grip. He hopped over to sniff Reno's goggles. Mmmm. Goggles.

"There were these crazy people in town, and they left, and I think they forgot they had a cat? I kinda ... picked him up. It was when everything was sucking and he was just chirpy and weird and I thought ... that might be a nice way to wake up, with a hyper strange little cat meowing at you. He's so snuggly."

[raspberryturk]

Reno's goggles were goggle-scented.

"Worked out pretty well then, huh?" Because Reno happened to know that Rikku was pretty snuggly, herself. And maybe a little bit of a stolen kiss would help with all the snuggling there was to be done.

Just a little one. On her cheek, there. She had cute cheeks.

[the_merriest]

Reno's goggles were also kinda chewy. Score!

"Yeah," she nodded, pressing her face in against his skin. "He was kinda ... just what I needed, right when I didn't expect him at all."

That seemed to happen to her a lot.

[raspberryturk]

"Well, lucky for the both of you then, yoto."

Petey really was a good cat. Even if there were going to be little cat-teethmarks on his goggles. Goggles were replaceable. Peteys weren't.

Stupid cat.

[the_merriest]

Petey was mrowling at the goggles. And then leaned over to check out Reno's forehead. It should get a lick or two. Hi, Reno!

"Sorry," she laughed softly. "He's ... weird like this. Uh. If we stay here, you might wake up being chewed on."

Petey was a world-class chewer. He could chew in the Olympics. Unless he flopped over and fell asleep when the starting gun went off.

[raspberryturk]

"That doesn't surprise me," he decided. "He's already samplin' me for later. See if he's got the proper spices or whatever. What goes good with ginger?"

[the_merriest]

"Mice?" Rikku suggested. "Cardboard? He likes cardboard. Well, no, he doesn't. He thinks he does, he tries eating it, and then he remembers he hates it and coughs it up again."

[raspberryturk]

"No cardboard, then. I ain't cleanin' it up, yo." As the feline attentions continued, Reno decided that perhaps a diversion would be in order. So he reached up with one hand, pulled off his goggles, and dangled them nearby.

They has a flavor.